Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
Benzino has finally confirmed that he did deny Eminem a five-mic review in The Source as their beef raged in the 2000s.
The veteran rapper and co-founder of the magazine from Boston made the admission during his appearance on the My Expert Opinion podcast hosted by Math Hoffa. “I was the top of my muthafuckin’ food chain,” Benzino began. “Even [Russell Simmons], Lyor [Cohen], all these ni**as, Steve [Stoute] and everybody, they all had to answer to somebody. I was the top of a damn near $75 million company when ni**as wasn’t getting money like that. I got that big money first, and I was the top of that.”
Benzino continued: “So, when the Eminem thing came through The Source, at this point, it’s getting disrespectful,” he said, addressing his issues with Eminem also known as Marshall Mathers. “So how the f**k am I gonna have this ni**a in my magazine? Would you? You’re not gonna put nobody in your magazine to give this ni**a five mics after this ni**a’s being disrespectful. You wouldn’t do it, man. Nobody would.”
Before the feud, The Source had been a strong supporter of Eminem, giving him acclaim in their “Unsigned Hype” column in 1998. The magazine would follow that up by giving a 4.5 mic rating to The Marshall Mathers LP album in 2000. But things soured when The Eminem Show was blocked from receiving the coveted five-mic review. “When the ‘Unsigned Hype’ column in The Source was like our only source of light/ When the mics used to mean somethin,’ a four was like/ You were the sh*t, now it’s like the least you get/ Three-and-a-half now just means you’re a piece of sh*t/ Four-and-a-half or five means you’re Biggie, Jigga, Nas,” Eminem said on “The Sauce.”
He’d elaborate further and mention Benzino by name: “Or Benzino — sh*t, I don’t even think you realize/ You’re playin’ with muthaf**kas’ lives/ I done watched Dre get f**ked on The Chronic/ Probably ‘cause I was on it/ Now you f**ked me out of my mics twice, I let it slide.”
For Benzino, there’s still animosity between the two, which he touched upon in a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, last February. “To all you p—y ass Stans, we all know y’all are the most corniest non violent coward fan base hip hop has ever seen,” he wrote at the time. “I have a restaurant in Atlanta 5071 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard Chamblee GA. stop tweeting and pull up on me you p—ies.”
